Top authors join protest rally to lobby No 10 on library cutbacks

Library services in London are being “stripped to the bone”, campaigners told a rally in the capital.

Authors Kate Mosse and Philip Ardagh were joining the protest against cutbacks which they say will undermine attempts to get young people reading.

Book budgets are being slashed, opening hours cut and mobile services axed as councils struggle to balance their accounts, according to research by Unison, Britain’s biggest public sector trade union.

It accused town halls of subjecting libraries to “death by a thousand cuts” - paring down services to the point where they are forced to close as people abandon them.

The rally at Central Hall, Westminster, was organised by Speak up for Libraries, backed by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Voices for the Library, The Library Campaign, Campaign for the Book, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, and Unison.

Leaders were then lobbying Downing Street and handing in a petition signed by 70,000 people. The alliance demands that the Government:

- Enforces the law that says local authorities must provide a “comprehensive and efficient” library service.

- Acknowledges that libraries are important to people, especially during a recession.

- Gives libraries a long-term future, with a clear vision for their development and standards.

In a snapshot survey of Unison’s London library workers and activists, three quarters said budgets had been cut, more than a third said opening times had been reduced and more than a quarter reported mobile library, outreach and home library services had been slashed.

It also exposed concerns about staffing levels, with 90 per cent reporting voluntary redundancies and 54 per cent compulsory lay-offs. Half said libraries in their area had closed.

Shadow libraries minister Dan Jarvis said up to 600 libraries face closure across the country but there is also concern about those being “whittled down”.

The Evening Standard revealed last year that a third of London’s libraries are at risk of closure. Our Save Our Libraries Campaign is supported by writers including Martina Cole and Will Self and poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

A spokesman at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the Government was a “committed champion” of libraries and their role as community hubs. “Decisions about how to run library services are local matters for local authorities, who must provide a comprehensive and efficient service for their communities,” he said.

“We have introduced a support programme for libraries, to spread learning about innovation and to secure a sustainable future.”